


habits that die hard

by sunbean72



Category: Iron Man - Fandom
Genre: (from himself), Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, He needs protected, Hurt/Comfort, MIT Era, This is fluffy but i mean it's tony there's always angst, Tony's a little kid, but yeah
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-14
Updated: 2018-02-14
Packaged: 2019-03-16 23:51:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,804
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13647027
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunbean72/pseuds/sunbean72
Summary: Tony Stark is roommates with James Rhodes, who hopes to survive MIT without having to bury a mouthy teenager who doesn't know when to back down from a fight.





	habits that die hard

"Cadet Rhodes, if you have a moment, I'd like a word."

James Rhodes surreptitiously checked his watch, which was a pointless move, because he was going to make time, it didn't matter how late he was going to be to his next class. "Yes, sir, Major?" Major Emerson was his favorite professor; he also was a man who held the ability to make his life a living hell if he so chose. He was not a malicious man, but he was tougher than most, and less forgiving than anyone else in the program.

The major shuffled a few papers on his desk as the rest of the class filed out. When the class was nearly empty, he beckoned Rhodey closer. "Listen, Cadet, I just have a word to the wise. You understand? This may be none of my business, but... you're a promising recruit, and I'd hate to see your potential wasted."

"Sir?" Rhodey quickly wracked his brain for what could be triggering this conversation; he had no idea what the major might be referring to. His grades were above reproach; he performed well in drills, his tests were always above standard. 

Seeing his look of bafflement, Major Emerson clarified. "It's your friends. Correction: friend. These things tend to make a bad impression, you see. Unfortunately, people will always be looking for a reason to keep you down, especially as competitive of an environment as MIT and the military."

Rhodey's confusion deepened. He had some very reliable friends, both in the ROTC and in class. He did the occasional partying, but was well disciplined and it never went too far. He was nothing if not direct, and simply said, "Sir, I'm not sure I follow."

The man looked irritated that he had to spell it out. "It's Stark's son, of course. Anthony. That kid should never have been allowed here, he's too young and too smart for his own good."

Comprehension crashed down on Rhodey. "Oh."

"Anthony isn't fitting in well here, as you know," the major continued, apparently relieved that Rhodey had caught onto his meaning and assured that he would agree with his assessment. "He's like a timebomb. Given his father's connections to the military and the money that he's put in this school, you're not going to want to be in the vicinity when he explodes. You catch my meaning? The blame tends to come down on whoever is closest to the problem." 

"I understand, sir," Rhodey said grimly. He understood all too well. "Might I ask if there's been a recent incident or if this is a holdover from last month?"

Major Emerson was packing up his bag. "Oh, something I heard this morning. A couple of the juniors in my morning class were talking about what a pain the ass he was being and they had to teach him some manners. He's supposed to be some kind of genius, you'd think he'd figure out when to keep his mouth shut. Dismissed, Cadet."

"Thank you, sir." He grabbed his backpack and belongings and made a beeline for the door. 

_Damn it Stark,_ he thought. He hated missing class. He was paying for it himself, working and on scholarship, and he always felt guilty and annoyed when he missed anything. But, unfortunately, this was going to have to take precedent. Their housing was off campus, giving him plenty of time to rant and rave in his mind against his stupid roommate.

Rhodey had been Tony's friend and rommate for more than a year now. He certainly wouldn't call it an easy year; being friends with Tony Stark was like being friends with a poorly socialized border collie, all brains, no manners, and too much energy to contain. His messes were not quite as smelly, granted, but they were a bit more... explode-y, which was a negative, for sure. He'd had his eyebrows singed twice in the first six months before he was more firm on the ground rules. Far more troublesome than the mess in their dorm, the tendency Tony had to stay up for days in a manic creative frenzy only to crash hard and sleep for 24 hours straight, or his terrible cooking skills, was the fact that Tony Stark was a Magnet for trouble. College on the main was a better place the high school; less drama, more maturity, that kind of thing. But in every group there were the bullies, the jerks, the people liked to see other people suffer, and Stark just seemed to land on the wrong side of them _every time._

It had to do with the fact that he was a rich, spoiled white boy. It had to do with the fact that he was an arrogant little jerk, who only ever spoke in sarcasm. It might have had something to do with the fact that Howard Stark was well respected among his peers and among the administration. It probably had a lot to do with the fact that he was smarter than all of them put together, and, yes, that was saying something. It was probably that he was an easy target. It helped that he never went to the dean or anyone else who would put an end to it. 

Rhodey had been Tony's friend for more than a year now. He suspected that there was one other reason that Tony Stark couldn't seem to avoid the bullies and horrible people at the school. He thought it might be because Tony thought he deserved what he got.

It was silent when he got home to their small apartment. That wasn't a good sign. Day and night, Tony usually preferred to blast the most horrible, grating rock music he could find. Silence was... it was bad.

"Tones?" He called cautiously. Still silent. Even the little bot Tony created that hung around the kitchen was turned off, not making its usual noise. It was eerie. "Tony, where are you?"

"Go back to class, Rhodes," a voice said tiredly. "I'm fine. I want left alone." The voice was coming from the front room, but by all appearances, it was completely empty. Rhodey looked around, his brow furrowed.

"Tony?" He said again after a few moments of not seeing him. 

"I don't need checked on. You're not my babysitter, and I don't need one last time I checked."

"Oh really? When _was_ the last time you checked?" He had him now; on the couch under a throw pillow and a blanket, completely unmoving. "Because last time _I_ checked, you kind of did."

"Ugh. Go to hell. Or back to class. Either way, go away and leave me alone."

"That's not happening," Rhodey said tightly. "Let's see it. The longer you fight the longer I'm missing class. I can wait all day if that's what it takes, or you can man up and show me how bad it is." Rhodey took a breath in and held it. He really didn't know what he was doing. He wasn't cut out for this. He was supposed to be some kind of adult, but really he felt most of the time like he was just pretending, like he was following along with all the people who really knew what they were doing and had their act together. This kind of crap was out of his league. Tony was just a kid, and Rhodey just had to pray he wasn't screwing him up or something--

He exhaled slowly through his mouth when after a few moments Tony pulled the blanket off his face, revealing a black eye, bruised cheek, and a small cut congealed with blood over his other eye. Rhodey walked closer and sat on the couch, eliciting a protest from the battered young genius. "For the love Rhodey, just... just go away! I'm fine!"

"Did you put ice on that? It's pretty swollen. Is your vision affected? Anything blurry or doubled?"

"No," Tony answered quietly, his defiance and sulking suddenly gone. Rhodey went and got a cold pack from the freezer. 

"What happened, man? Was it Jason again?" 

"Yeah."

"What'd you do this time?"

Tony was silent as he pressed the cold pack to his eye, wincing. "I don't know. I guess I kind of corrected his math in our physics class. I didn't know it was going to piss him off so bad."

"Sure you did!"

"But his math was wrong!"

"Uh huh. Why didn't you let the teacher correct it?"

"His math was wrong too."

"Okay." Rhodey leaned over, inspecting Tony's wounds more closely. "Where else did they get you?"

"The blonde one punched me in the stomach then kicked me in the back when I was on the ground."

"Huh. Let's see." Rolling the eye not covered in the cold pack, Tony lifted his shirt, showing his only friend his stomach then turning to show him his back. There would be a bruise on his back, Rhodey noted. "All right tough guy," he said gently. "Are you okay? Should we go to the clinic?"

Tony hesitated, then frowned. "Nah. That doctor threatened to tell my dad last time."

"That won't matter! You might need an x-ray of that eye, Tony, it could have broke the orbit it's pretty swollen--"

"Aww, no!! No, please? Come on, Rhodey! You know I'm fine."

"This could be serious--"

"Let's just watch it today, okay? If it's bad I'll go tomorrow. Please? Please?"

"I hate it when you do that. Don't do that. You're like a puppy--"

"And you're just a teddy bear. Come on, you can't make me, right? Honey bear?" Rhodey couldn't help but laugh at the nickname.

"We'll see, you big dummy," he said affectionately. He only had sisters; the scrawny teenagers had become what he thought a brother might be like. He'd even brought him home during a couple of three day weekends. Tony was an idiot, but he was also one of the funniest, smartest, most kind and decent people he'd ever met. It baffled him that Tony's dad was so hard on him, so criticizing and harsh with him. Sure he could be an ass sometimes, but he was... he thought maybe Tony Stark would change the world someday.

Rhodey went into the bathroom to gather some things to patch up Tony. This not being their first incident, there was actually a healthy amount of first aid supplies. He set the supplies on the table and held out his hand to help Tony sit up, shaking it impatiently when Tony didn't move to take it.

Tony finally used Rhodey's hand to pull himself to sitting, pain crossing his young face. "Yeah, I'll bet that hurts," Rhodey acknowledged, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. "You know, Tony, you don't _have_ to correct people's math. Or stick around when they know they're going to kick your ass."

"Yeah, well." Tony closed his eyes as Rhodey started to clean the blood off the wound where his skin had split. "I guess I got a little bored in class. Then I figured I was kind of asking for it."

"Asking for it? You think you deserved to get beat up for being right?" Rhodey exclaimed, aghast. There was so much to unpack in that sentence. "What the _hell,_ Tony!" Tony didn't open his eyes, but frowned. He was silent a long time as Rhodey finished cleaning the wound and putting a bandage on it. With a little luck, it might not even scar. He was hoping it wouldn't.

"There."

Tony opened his eyes, pain and grief there that Rhodey wasn't expecting. "My dad would hate what I'm doing down here. He'd say it was a waste of time. He'd really be pissed off if he knew I was screwing around making robots instead of learning how to carry on the 'family business.'" He shook his head, his featured lined with upset and frustration. "Making weapons is boring. There's nothing to figure out except how many people it can hurt at a time. So I try something different, but every time I start to have fun and enjoy myself, all I can hear is his voice telling me what a pain in the ass I am, how I'm a useless waste of potential. So I try to get back into what I'm supposed to be doing, but it's so boring and annoying, then I pick a fight, then I hear my dad's voice telling me 'Stark men are made of iron' so I don't try to get out of it, I just take it."

Rhodey let his hands fall to his lap. He didn't say anything; he didn't know what to say. He just nodded. "Tony, your dad's wrong," he said finally. "And... if he can't see how brilliant you are, he's an idiot. And he's a huge jerk for saying those things to you or about you, okay?"

Tony gave a small smile. "Is there anyone you're not willing to piss off? I'm willing to bet money Major Emerson had a chat with you. Now you're disparaging the darling of the US military, Howard Anthony Walter Stark, the co-creator of Captain America himself, defeater of Nazi's, inventor, industrialist, inventor extraordinaire. And you get mad at _me_ for looking for trouble?"

"I didn't get mad," Rhodey said distractedly. "Tony, how did you know about the major?"

"It's not that hard to figure out Rhodey. Your third class on Wednesdays is with him, and he always looks at me like he smells something sour when I walk by. Jason and the others have class with him earlier in the day, and they have big, fat, stupid mouths they can't keep shut. Do you have any idea what they were saying about my mother?" Tony pushed the blanket off, getting agitated at the memory. "That son of a--"

"Easy, Tony!" Rhodey warned, pushing him back down to sitting. "Easy. You have my schedule memorized."

"Well, I mean... I didn't memorize it, I just remember it."

"Right. You're the smartest idiot I know, you know that?"

Tony sighed tiredly. "Tony, listen. Your dad has many admirable qualities, but he's a total jerk. And you don't deserve to be beat up. Usually. Unless it's by me."

Tony scoffed. "As if, _honey bear._ "

Rhodey grinned. "Did you eat?" Hell, he really was turning into a babysitter.

"Maybe later. You can go to school Rhodes, I'm fine."

"Nah. I'm good. Needed a break anyway."

"You're going to get in trouble," Tony warned. "I should know, I've been kicked out three times already this month."

"Tony you really should stop giving them your ideas to get yourself out of trouble!"

"What's the alternative?" Tony scoffed. "Let Howard bail me out? Or worse yet, get sent home and be forced to listen to how disappointed he is, how I'm breaking my mother's heart, all that crap?"

"I'm worried about you," he confessed, looking down at the beaten and scrawny teenager. Tony turned away, and all that was visible for a moment was the profile of his face as he hid it from Rhodey, the curl of his dark hair on his neck, the collar of his t-shirt.

"I'm fine."

"Not now but you will be. Set your alarm, Stark. Tomorrow I'm teaching you how to defend yourself."

"What??"

"Yup. If you're going to pick fights with guys twice your size, I'm going to make sure you live through it. So, starting tomorrow, which means before class, which means seven am."

"There's no way in hell I'm waking up that early," Tony protested, pushing at Rhodey, who grabbed his wrist to restrain him.

"No choice. This is how it's going to be. And," he added as an afterthought. "We're going home this weekend."

"I don't want your mom to see me like this!"

"But she'll want to see you," Rhodes said without sympathy. "It's happening. End of discussion."

Tony shook his head but seemed to be thinking about it. "Maybe," he eventually capitulated with a frown.

"Atta boy. 'Kay, I'm going to make you a sandwich then I gotta split"

"I thought you were done with class today?"

"I'm done sitting in class, but there's someone I got to teach a lesson to." Rhodey was going to have a few words with Jason. That guy was a moron, and he wasn't going to let him keep bullying Tony. He knew the type; they back down from a fair fight because deep down they were nothing but cowards. More worrisome was the fact that his little intervention would no doubt get back to Major Emerson. He shook that off. He had a feeling this wouldn't be the last time in their college career that he would be defending Tony Stark from the people who would use and abuse him, but friends like him didn't come around every day. 


End file.
